26 Facts About Bramwell Booth

William Bramwell Booth, CH was a British church and charity leader who was the first Chief of Staff and the second General of The Salvation Army, succeeding his father, William Booth.

Bramwell Booth was named after William Bramwell, a Methodist revivalist.

The oldest child born to William Booth and Catherine Mumford, Bramwell Booth had two brothers and five sisters, including Evangeline Booth, Catherine Booth-Clibborn, Emma Booth and Ballington Booth.

Bramwell Booth was involved in The Salvation Army right from its origins as the obscure Christian Mission, established in Whitechapel in 1865, into an international organisation with numerous and varied social activities.

Bramwell Booth was educated at home, briefly at a preparatory school and at the City of London School, where he was bullied.

In 1870, aged just 14, Bramwell Booth started to help in the management of his father's Christian Mission and in the cheap food kitchens set up in its early days.

Bramwell Booth had intended to study medicine and had a fear of public speaking, but despite these obstacles he became William Booth's amanuensis, adviser and administrator.

Bramwell Booth became an active full-time collaborator with his father in 1874, and an officer when the Christian Mission became The Salvation Army in 1878.

Bramwell Booth would hold this title until his father's death, when he himself was named General in his father's will.

In 1885 Bramwell Booth was involved with William Thomas Stead in an attempt to publicise the prostitution of young girls.

Bramwell Booth was acquitted but the others served short prison terms.

On 12 October 1882 Bramwell Booth married Captain Florence Eleanor Soper, the eldest daughter of Dr Soper, a medical practitioner of Blaina, Monmouthshire.

Bramwell Booth had joined The Salvation Army in 1880 and worked in France with Bramwell's sister Catherine Booth.

The early years of Bramwell Booth's Generalship were complicated by World War I, which threatened the international nature of The Salvation Army, with Salvationists in both Germany and Great Britain.

Bramwell Booth faced allegations of nepotism, in that he appointed his own children to posts for which others were better qualified.

Bramwell Booth had been the Army's 'First Lady' since the death of his mother Catherine Booth in 1890, and had started several Army organisations including the Home League, Girl Guards, and League of Mercy.

In May 1928 Bramwell Booth's health began to deteriorate, and by September he was suffering from insomnia and depression.

Bramwell Booth refused to resign, believing that his health would soon be fully recovered, so on 13 February 1929 the High Council voted by 52 votes to 5 that Bramwell's term of office as General should now end, based on Bramwell being 'unfit' to hold the position.

Bramwell Booth was succeeded in the election of Edward Higgins, his Chief of the Staff.

General Bramwell Booth then took the High Council to court, which lost him a lot of respect; he lost the court case.

On 29 April 1929 the now former General Bramwell Booth received a letter from Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin stating that King George V had appointed him a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour.

Bramwell Booth authored the booklet The Advantages of Vegetarian Diet, published by the London Vegetarian Society.

Bramwell Booth's wife became a vegetarian and they both believed that meat stimulated the consumption of alcohol.

On 16 June 1929 his family was summoned to his bedside, and on that Sunday evening General Bramwell Booth died at his home, The Homestead, Hadley Wood, near Barnet, Hertfordshire.

General Bramwell Booth was buried opposite his parents at Abney Park Cemetery, Stoke Newington, London.

Bramwell Booth was commemorated by the Bramwell Booth Memorial Hall, Queen Victoria Street, London.